As I may have mentioned before (ha ha) I have been scratch-building some diamond crossings. The biggest surprise to me is how long it takes - typically eight hours or more for something which is really not that finely made (I am not desperately fussed at this stage).
How long does it usually take to build things like this? Am I ludicrously slow?
Guy
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On 02/10/2005 18:57, Just zis Guy, you know? wrote,
I think the right answer is that it takes as long as it takes! I have no real idea how long it takes me to build pointwork, it's done when it's done!
This isn't a race - we do this because we enjoy it. (He says, having been swearing at trying to work out how to resolve negative clearance in a very small loco in P4!)
"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote
Back in the 70s I used to scratchbuild O-gauge pointwork, and built enough to create a modest size terminus. I reckoned I could churn out a standard
6'0" radius point in an evening (probably a couple of hours work). That would include filing the point blades, stockrails and crossing nose, cutting the sleepering and then fabricating the turnout. I don't recall building a diamond in O (although I remember doing one in OO) but there's a fair bit more work involved than with a point.However as Paul Boyd suggests, time shouldn't really be an issue unless you're working to a deadline. Any hobby's about occupying your spare time, and providing you're happy with the end result, does it matter how long it takes?
John.
Guy,
It depends on how you are making your pointwork. If you are using PCB sleepers and FB rail, then you can throw a turnout together quite quickly - I timed myself once making an N scale turnout in about 45 minutes using PCB timbering.
However, if you use other forms of construction - such as ply and rivet or individual chairs or fittings, then the time taken to build can be a good bit longer.
Also, there's a good deal more work in a diamond crossing than the average simple turnout - for a start you have two crossings to lay and usually more check rails to fit as well. You normally have to use a fair bit of care to keep everything lined up as well. So taking several hours to make a diamond crossing is not unusual. I've just spent an accumulated two or three days making a diamond with one curved road - most of the time being taken in making sure the curved road was aligned correctly, and, I have to confess, there is an outside slip road going through it as well :-)
Jim..
I submit that on or about Sun, 2 Oct 2005 19:21:36 +0100, the person known to the court as "John Turner" made a statement ( in Your Honour's bundle) to the following effect:
I'm not, I'm just wondering whether this is representative, whether it's worth trying to work to the off-the-shelf angles instead. In the end the answer has to be no, I guess, since that never quite gives the result you want :-)
Guy
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I submit that on or about Sun, 02 Oct 2005 20:04:30 +0100, the person known to the court as Jim Guthrie made a statement ( in Your Honour's bundle) to the following effect:
And... standing up in a hammock? ;-)
Guy
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